Anthesis leads the way to stability with experience and empathy

Six weeks of initial go-live support transformed into eleven months on site in Aberdeen for Anthesis consultant Rebecca Barr. Initially called in to provide stabilisation support as a logistics team went live on Infor M3, the client valued her input and extended her role until they had established complete confidence in the system and their own knowledge.

Rebecca arrived to support the logistics team at oil field services company ALTUS Intervention at the beginning of December 2014. The company had just completed their move to a new ERP solution, Infor M3, but the users were still unfamiliar with the new application and were running into serious problems executing some key business processes.

Early days on the project involved training users along with identifying and logging system faults. Once the nine-strong logistics team were more comfortable with the software, it was decided to retain Rebecca’s services to further consolidate their knowledge and experience, and to work on outstanding software issues.

Over the coming months Rebecca spent time identifying and documenting faults, one of which was causing particularly significant problems. She developed workarounds and supporting documentation to allow others to work through issues they encountered.

Other tasks Rebecca carried out included testing modifications and enhancements to the ERP system. She also trained super-users—the members of the logistics team selected to become inhouse experts on Infor M3. Part of the training included the creation of quick reference guides for staff, which they could refer to when identifying and working through problems with the system.

Rebecca’s expertise as an Infor M3 consultant comes from over a decade of working with the ERP system in the equipment rental industry. Initially a user of the software, she assisted with the implementation of Infor M3 across a national business. Since then she has worked with some of the largest brands using Infor M3 in the equipment rental sector.

Tim Bartlam of ALTUS Intervention said: “We had a difficult go-live that required an extended period of consultant support and so Becky came into this situation. Offering strong customer empathy and a positive can-do attitude combined with the essential technical ability, she sat at the interface between the strategic vision of the company and the distress the users were suffering due to the less than ideal post-go-live operating environment. She came into this having no previous involvement with the project. The situation was extremely political, required humility, understanding of the corporate need, an understanding of the users’ issues, compassion and intense quick thinking. She did good